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Insects
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Pest: The influence of the Symbionts Guild on Insect Bionomic,...
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Pest: The influence of the Symbionts Guild on Insect Bionomic, Damage, and Management

A special issue of Insects (ISSN 2075-4450).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2020) | Viewed by 10866

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Francesco Porcelli

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Scienze del Suolo, della Pianta e degli Alimenti, University of Bari Aldo Moro, 70126 Bari, Italy
Interests: alien, invasive or quarantine pest; Diaspididae (Hemiptera)
Dr. Aurelio Ciancio

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Istituto per la Protezione Sostenibile delle Piante, CNR, Bari, Italy
Interests: plant protection; invertebrate pathology; rhizosphere microbiology; soil ecology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Luis V. Lopez-Llorca

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Multidisciplinary Institute for Environmental Studies/Department of Marine Sciences and Applied Biology, University of Alicante, Apdo. 99, E-03080 Alicante, Spain
Interests: biocontrol; nematophagous fungi; entomopathogenic fungi; chitosan; plant pathology; endophytes; fungal "omics"
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue focuses on single symbionts or an entire guild, affecting the pest status of their associated arthropod partner. Symbionts interact with associated pests in a broad sense, not only mutualism and may pertain to insects, mites, nematodes, fungi, or bacteria. Microorganisms shall be pest companions and not plant-associated pathogens, even if their species are insect-borne or insect-dispersed. Contributions shall disclose interactions that are relevant for the pest status, suggesting available targets for management. Submissions shall consider an IPM strategy, or just a part of it, eventually studying parameters for its inclusion into a DSS because of the influence on the target species, also via the control of its guild components. Pest biocontrol components shall challenge the pest rarefaction and may, eventually, be pest-dispersed or pest-gathered.

Moreover, integration or synergism among alternative mortality factors, the availability of a hitherto overlooked cause of pest death, and their timing shall be a relevant part of the topic. This Special Issue also includes stress effects on pest prolificacy, and sublethal, subacute, and chronic mortality factors. We expect to suggest effective and sustainable precision agriculture solutions focusing on major pests damaging crops or fruit production, including those relevant for staple food security.

Prof. Francesco Porcelli
Dr. Aurelio Ciancio
Prof. Dr. Luis Vicente Lopez-Llorca
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Insects is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Rational Pest Control
  • Alien Pest
  • Invasive Species
  • Quarantine
  • Pest-Borne Symbiont
  • Semiochemicals
  • Trophic Interactions
  • Antimicrobial Compounds

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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0 pages, 1288 KiB  
Article
Volatile Organic Compounds from Entomopathogenic and Nematophagous Fungi, Repel Banana Black Weevil (Cosmopolites sordidus)
by Ana Lozano-Soria, Ugo Picciotti, Federico Lopez-Moya, Javier Lopez-Cepero, Francesco Porcelli and Luis Vicente Lopez-Llorca
Insects 2020, 11(8), 509; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects11080509 - 6 Aug 2020
Cited by 37 | Viewed by 5945 | Correction
Abstract
Fungal Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) repel banana black weevil (BW), Cosmopolites sordidus (Germar, 1824), the key-pest of banana [Musa sp. (Linnaeus, 1753)]. The entomopathogens Beauveria bassiana (Bb1TS11) and Metarhizium robertsii (Mr4TS04) were isolated from banana plantation soils using an insect bait. Bb1TS11 [...] Read more.
Fungal Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) repel banana black weevil (BW), Cosmopolites sordidus (Germar, 1824), the key-pest of banana [Musa sp. (Linnaeus, 1753)]. The entomopathogens Beauveria bassiana (Bb1TS11) and Metarhizium robertsii (Mr4TS04) were isolated from banana plantation soils using an insect bait. Bb1TS11 and Mr4TS04 were pathogenic to BW adults. Bb1TS11, Bb203 (from infected palm weevils), Mr4TS04 and the nematophagous fungus Pochonia clamydosporia (Pc123), were tested for VOCs production. VOCs were identified by Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry–Solid-Phase Micro Extraction (GC/MS-SPME). GC/MS-SPME identified a total of 97 VOCs in all strains tested. Seven VOCs (styrene, benzothiazole, camphor, borneol, 1,3-dimethoxy-benzene, 1-octen-3-ol and 3-cyclohepten-1-one) were selected for their abundance or previous record as insect repellents. In olfactometry bioassays, BW-starved adults in the dark showed the highest mobility to banana corm. 2-cyclohepten-1-one (C7), commercially available isomer of 3-cyclohepten-1-one, is the best BW repellent (p < 0.05), followed by 1,3-dimethoxy-benzene (C5). The rest of the VOCs have a milder repellency to BW. Styrene (C1) and benzothiazole (C2) (known to repel palm weevil) block the attraction of banana corm and BW pheromone to BW adults in bioassays. Therefore, VOCs from biocontrol fungi can be used in future studies to biomanage BW in the field. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pest: The influence of the Symbionts Guild on Insect Bionomic, Damage, and Management)
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22 pages, 2748 KiB  
Article
First Report of Aleurocanthus spiniferus on Ailanthus altissima: Profiling of the Insect Microbiome and MicroRNAs
by Giovanni Bubici, Maria Isabella Prigigallo, Francesca Garganese, Francesco Nugnes, Maurice Jansen and Francesco Porcelli
Insects 2020, 11(3), 161; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects11030161 - 3 Mar 2020
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4469
Abstract
We report the first occurrence of the orange spiny whitefly (Aleurocanthus spiniferus; OSW) on the tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima) in Bari, Apulia region, Italy. After our first observation in 2016, the infestation recurred regularly during the following years [...] Read more.
We report the first occurrence of the orange spiny whitefly (Aleurocanthus spiniferus; OSW) on the tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima) in Bari, Apulia region, Italy. After our first observation in 2016, the infestation recurred regularly during the following years and expanded to the neighboring trees. Since then, we have also found the insect on numerous patches of the tree of heaven and other plant species in the Bari province. Nevertheless, the tree of heaven was not particularly threatened by the insect, so that a possible contribution by OSW for the control of such an invasive plant cannot be hypothesized hitherto. This work was also aimed at profiling the microbiome of OSW feeding on A. altissima. For this purpose, we used the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and the deep sequencing of small RNAs (sRNAs). Both techniques unveiled the presence of “Candidatus Portiera” (primary endosymbiont), Wolbachia sp. and Rickettsia sp., endosymbionts already reported for other Aleyrodidae. Deep sequencing data were analyzed by four computational pipelines in order to understand the reliability of the detection of fungi, bacteria, and viruses: Kraken, Kaiju, Velvet, and VelvetOptimiser. Some contigs assembled by Velvet or VelvetOptimiser were associated with insects, but not necessarily in the Aleurocanthus genus or Aleyrodidae family, suggesting the non-specificity of sRNAs or possible traces of parasitoids in the sample (e.g., Eretmocerus sp.). Finally, deep sequencing data were used to describe the microtranscriptome of OSW: 56 canonical and at least four high-confidence novel microRNAs (miRNAs) were identified. The overall miRNA abundance in OSW was in agreement with previous works on Bemisia tabaci, and bantam-3p, miR-276a-3p, miR-317-3p, miR-750-3p, and mir-8-3p were the most represented miRNAs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pest: The influence of the Symbionts Guild on Insect Bionomic, Damage, and Management)
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